30 July 2025

De Beauvoir Jazz Festival set for another year

How good was the first ever De Beauvoir Jazz Festival, held at venues on and around The Benyon Estate…?  So good, that the dates have already been fixed for a repeat performance next year!

The event, run over two days – July 11th and 12th – saw performances at a number of venues, including De Beauvoir Square and St Peter’s Church.

But the highlight had to be The Block Party, held in De Beauvoir Block, attended by around 250 people, paired with a Cajun BBQ by Albers, who run the café at The Block and Albers restaurant on the corner of De Beauvoir and Englefield Road.

Festival organiser and local resident Payal described the first ever festival as a citizen-led response to London’s cultural needs and is delighted by the inaugural year’s success. Having spent years in placemaking and cultural strategy practice, her ambition for the festival includes activating spaces and bringing music to everyone in the community. 

“I first went into The Block for a work meeting and remember thinking of how much the different levels and the courtyard evoke the spaces I thoroughly love in New Orleans,” she says.

“The festival is strongly inspired by the French Quarter Festival in this city that truly embraces music in the streets and acts as a democratic space for musicians to come together, find spaces to actually listen to each other’s gigs and collaborate with one another” 

Giacomo Smith and the Gypsy Jazz All Stars came to De Beauvoir from Paris to play an extraordinary set while Island Girl and DJ Lil Koko spun music that was easy and ridiculously sublime - think Cajun bayou beats and old-school funk. It delighted the generations that came together in this space.

Here, in a city like London with its temperamental weather, an urban festival doesn’t come without its challenges - but Payal hopes to create the smallest footprint that’s least disruptive to the neighbourhood. Getting people out of their homes to join each other for a genuine community-led event had been Payal’s aim when she and Artistic Director Pete Horsfall first planned the festival.

She says: “‘There’s something really nice, especially after Covid, about seeing people come off screens and come together. And it was great to see people using public transport rather than their cars to get to the venues – and bringing along their children and dogs.  It felt truly like a festival for everyone.”

Our Estate Manager Edward Benyon was impressed by the event.  “I joined in The Block Party and was so pleased to see the place really brought to life with so many people,” he said.  “We’ve learned a few lessons and I am sure next year will be even better.”

Make a note in your diaries, The De Beauvoir Jazz Festival returns for its second edition on 10th and 11th July 2026.

Photos by Alex Micu.